She Was Quiet for the Banshee
by Nicksta101
Summary: Maya, a warrior for the Quiet Ones, a secret society hell-bent on destroying the last of the Order of the Impending Storm is in love and in danger. Hunted by an unknown spirit of Pandora, she must ask herself if its worth killing something that wanders more in shadows than in the world instead of protecting the person she loves from a threat far more real than she cares to admit.
1. A Second Glance

_**A Second Glance**_

_**Blackwater Sink Bar**_

_**Lynchwood**_

_**Pandora**_

That was the second time he looked at me, the first time was when I sat down by the bar and waved the barmen for a drink. Why was I here of all places anyway? The air stank of booze and the timber walls were rotting down, I could have sworn the whole building was going to collapse with just a flick of a finger. It rocked as the doors swung open making way for more hard-ass bounty hunters to swoop in and flex their drinking arms. Whatever, I wouldn't be here for long and I was glad about it. Lynchwood wasn't for me, now Axton, yeah, he would have loved it here.

_One more round please, barman?_

Yeah, that's how he would have sounded. Tough yet something about him made me feel comfortable when I was with him. He had a smile that told you that he was OK, as long as you didn't threaten him, you'd be fine. He'd drink with anyone. He even said so himself.

_Maya, you know I'll drink a beer with anyone._

Too bad he wasn't here. He'd make great company. No, I was alone with my empty glass and a man by the corner of the bar with his friends looking at me. I knew he was eyeing me up. I could feel it, it was too obvious. Oh yeah, there was also a mirror taken from a car that was attached above the shelves of drinks in front of me so I could see his reflection. He was oblivious to it. He looked over the rim of his glass and he studied my legs and he didn't even look away when he was spoken too. This place was busy and there were a lot of voices crashing against one another but I could hear his thoughts as if I was listening through an earpiece.

_I want you, I want you bad._

Too bad, if only he knew I was a Siren. That would shut him up and that would take his pervert eyes away from me. It was tempting to roll up my sleeve and show him my tattoos, the mark of a Siren but I couldn't. I had to stay incognito for this task and by the way this was going, I wasn't doing a very good job at it.

I was here waiting for Max, an informant for the Quiet Ones, a collection of people desperate to track down the last of the Monks of the Order of the Impending Storm. Man, I hated those pricks.

_Child! Do this! Child! Kill him! Child! Go to your room!_

Eurgh, they tormented me. I have to say, it felt good, no, it felt _fucking _good to watch Sophis choke and flap his arms as I constricted his neck. He deserved it. Athenas was a good place, a place that was good to me. Those religious zealots weren't so good to me. Maybe today I could help dismantle the last steeple of its palace with the death of another Monk. If only Max would show up.

The doors flew open again and this time a tall man with a dark blue trench coat strolled past. He was handsome, I'll give him that and he did seem to take away the perv's attention from my legs long enough for me to lean forward and snag a handful of ice from the bucket sitting on the stack of boxes. I dropped them in the glass and slugged another drop of this poison. I didn't know what I was drinking. I asked for a round of spirits and mixed them with lime. Meh, I was fine. Was that to do with my Siren characteristics or was it the Eridium I had been pumping since Lilith gave me a bar or two in Three Horns? I was never what you would call an "addict" but I had to say she was right; _this Eridium stuff is the tits!_

Goddammit, he was still watching me, although it was in between glances at the newcomer who had now sank into the booth by the restrooms. He was drinking straight from a hip flask. The owner can't have liked that, he wasn't making any money from this guy and judging by the Bullymong fur-hooded coat he was wearing I would say he had money to burn. Well, that wasn't Max. From what I know about him, he was dirt poor and he was living in the Rust Commons. Maybe that's why the perv was checking him after checking my thighs; he stood out like a Hodunk in an Irish pub. He had no business being there. I tipped the glass over and left it upside down declaring myself the winner of a drinking game and headed towards the restroom. I walked as I would normally, the pervert must have loved it. I passed the stranger and tried to take in his features but the rim of his hat was hiding his face. I knew from his entrance that he was handsome, a rarity in this dump.

Shit, even the water is lousy. The thought of this made me regret drinking out of those glasses at the bar but it was too late to do anything about that now. I was getting restless; Max should have been here by now. I didn't come to Lynchwood to be stood up and I wasn't even looking for a date. I wondered if he was caught by bandits or if he had backed out. If he bailed on me, I wasn't going to be held responsible. I was tired, annoyed at the man who didn't understand good manners and I was in need of another Eridium fix. Fuck this. Nobody stands up on me.

I held the door and pulled it open. Wow, he really was handsome.


	2. Come Faith We'll Survive

_**Come Faith We'll Survive**_

_**SAME DAY**_

Two blue eyes blinked at me with the faintest of smiles. I held my silence and so did he but I could tell that he wanted to say something. I mean, come on, who follows a girl into the girl's bathroom without a reason? If he wanted to take me he would have done so. No, he had something to say. I flicked my eyes at the sign on the door and he looked.

"You hiding something beneath that coat?"

I'm not sure if he got the joke but it got him talking.

"That man over there," he cocked a thumb over his shoulder, "he's looking for you."

I looked over his shoulder but I didn't need to. I knew who he was talking about. The perv was now talking to his chums, his teeth grinding with foul-mouthed motive and evil intent. I wasn't worried about him or his pals. Let them try. I looked back at my follower and assured him I was alright.

"Yeah, I'm OK," I looked at his sleeve and pinched a piece of the coat, "that must have been expensive?"

He pulled his arm away and kept it behind his back. Please, if that was going to stop me he was dead wrong.

"Didn't you hear me?"

"I heard you and I told you, I'm fine."

I tried to walk past him but he pinned his arm against the doorframe locking me in the bathroom. _Big mistake._

"Let me out."

The fur-hooded doorman walked inside the bathroom and I walked back. He had something to say so I thought I might as well let him flap his gums. Then I could get out and find Max so I could punch fifty shades of shit out of him for keeping me waiting.

"He's not alone."

"I know he's got a crew out there."

He shook his head, "No, I mean there are more of them. Listen, Maya, I know why you're here."

"Here's the deal sweet-pea, I'll deal with him and his friends when I'm-"

Hang on a minute, let's rewind a second.

"How do you know my name?"

The handsome guy unclipped his coat pocket and pulled out a small rock and lent me his hand. I took the rock and rolled it in the palms of my hands. There was a symbol, something I'd seen before. Hmm, where had I seen that before? Sadly, my puzzled mind seemed to let all eyes see it and the guy answered my question for me. Not that he needed to, I would have remembered eventually.

"I'm the Admirer of the Quiet Ones. This is a mark of a Seed."

Whoa, whoa, whoa, tiger. Too much information. I rolled the rock in my hands again and tried to remember what the hell he was talking about. An Admirer? Yeah, I got that part. The Quiet Ones always said that their agents are watched by Admirers or Guardians or whatever they called them. Was he _my_ Guardian? OK, I took some deep breaths and ran the tip of my finger through the carvings in the rock that created the mark. Yes, I remember! I remember when I was in the teacher's room at the Order of the Impending Storm's school I had to learn the six Seeds of the Bloom. I think it referred back to some kind of flower and once it bloomed, something happened. Damn, I should have paid more attention. I threw the rock back at my _Admirer_ and asked him what the Seed was.

He replied, "Faith."

"Faith?"

"Yes. It's the beginning Seed of the Bloom. They go in an order of Faith, Rain, Harmony, Misery, Avarice and Burden."

"OK, what has this got to do with, _everything?_"

"I was asked by the Quiet Ones to watch over you while Max met up with you. The bunch led by the guy taking a liking to you is protecting the Zealots, the Impending Storm's Monks."

Shit, the Monks still have people protecting them.

"How does he know I'm coming?"

"Their Monks, Maya. You should know that they have ways of finding things out."

I had to admit, I should have known the Monks would have known we'd be coming for them. They hurt a lot of people and the Quiet Ones weren't as powerful as them. Maybe I could change this.

"The Seed though, you still haven't answered my question."

He took a breath, "When the Impending Storm breaks apart, the Bloom wilts like a flower and if it dies then the Impending Storm dies."

"OK, so it's dying? Great, let it die. The Quiet Ones can just stay away."

"It's not that simple."

Of course it wasn't, just listen Maya.

"You understand that there can only be six Sirens in existence at one time and those six Sirens all hold a Seed." Oh great, I didn't like where this was going, "if the Monks find the Seeds then they can restore the Bloom and then they'll have the means to control the Sirens."

"They could _control me?_"

"Yes, Maya. I know it sounds crazy but that's how it is. This isn't like Handsome Jack and his Warrior Vault. This is something that could threaten every sentient being in the solar system. Six Sirens joined together to fuse their powers could bring about something terrible. Siren powers can be beautiful and they can be destructive. It's up to the Siren herself whether or not they destroy or create. If the Impending Storm takes the Seed from the Sirens and forms the Bloom then you'll never know beauty again."

This was too much. The Quiet Ones never mentioned anything like this. Were they trying to protect me? Fuck, there was a lot about my Siren lineage that I didn't know. I knew I could be violent, the Impending Storm used me as a weapon but I broke free from their totalitarian regime. Now they wanted to use us all to reshape the universe? Six Sirens and six Seeds.

"So, it's a hunting game?" I asked

"It's not a game but yes, either you hunt them down or they'll take you away."

"I guess I don't have much of a choice do I?"

My Admirer wiped his chin with the back of his hand and looked at me, "I don't think you do."


	3. Passing Touch

_**Passing Touch**_

_**SAME DAY**_

I blinked at my _Admirer_ (I was still coming to terms with that phrase) and moved past him to check the door. Huh, the special guest was gone. The place seemed so much emptier now, were we the only people inside? I stepped out from the bathroom door and looked behind the bar. The bartender wasn't there. No, this didn't feel right. If he was gone then he would have had his helper to stand by the bar. Nobody was here. It was just me and my _Admirer_. I felt his breath on the back of my neck and turned around. He was looking at the bar as well. I could see the chain of events playing inside his mind; he had already come up with a solution to what was undoubtedly a big problem.

"Where is your friend?"

I rolled my eyes, "Where do you think?"

"We need to go, now." I felt his hand wrap around my wrist and I was thrown back inside the bathroom where I had just learnt I was caught up in one heck of a shit storm.

He was rubbing his hands together and mumbling some off-world babble I couldn't understand. I checked behind my shoulder sure that the creep was going to come back for his pound of flesh or something else. I looked back at the fur-coat and asked him about his tangled words, "What are you doing? Is that something they teach you at a higher class or something?"

He raised a finger to his mouth and I was thrown back through the atmosphere onto a wooden chair with a desk in front of me. _What the hell? _There were words scrawled on a blackboard and there were ancient texts about the elemental powers of the world. Oh no, not again.

_Child!_

Don't answer him, Maya. Do not answer _him_.

_Child!_

Shit, too late.

_Yes? Brother Sophis?_

_Name me the thorns in the Bladeflower family?_

_Uh, I think it's-_

_Wrong! Go to the Abbey, Child!_

God help me, get me out of here! There it was again, that warm touch of his hand bringing me back from a cold sweat and a bad dream. He was looking at me, checking my eyes with his hands on my cheeks. I had to admit, he had lovely eyes.

"Are you alright?"

It took me a second or two to reply but I did, "Yes, I'm fine."

He kept on looking at me to check anyway but I was OK. He took his hands away without embarrassment or shame for touching me and for some reason that made me feel comfortable with him. He reminded me of Axton, although Axton wasn't exactly the romantic type. If I fell over he wouldn't help me up first and brush off the dirt, he would mock me kindly and then help me up. Not that that was bad or anything but the way this guy treated me, it was alien to me. For god sakes, Maya, I only blanked out for a second and already this guy's got you whipped! Before I could continue my wonder at this man, he already punched a hole through the wall.

I watched, dumbstruck. OK, he just coiled his fingers and tore that wall a new one. He looked at me and I would hate to think what he saw. Well, what he saw was a Siren who harnesses a collection of devastating powers that can split, explode and frazzle human bodies look at him with her jaw open. That was amazing.

"No time to dawdle." With that line he grabbed my wrist again and this time I didn't black out and I didn't yell at Brother Sophis.

We jumped through the dust and danced across the dirt in Gunslinger Corner and I found myself thrown over a counter and landing in a kitchen area. The last time I checked I wasn't the damsel in distress but I wasn't complaining. Nobody's ever rescued me from a lonely pub's ladies' room before. My Admirer (I'll get his name eventually) picked me up and opened a refrigerator and pushed me inside. I looked down at my feet and felt my stomach lurch when I realised it was big enough for two people to hide. Before I prepared myself he had slid next to me and closed the door leaving a narrow vertical slit so we could look outside. Despite the cold, I could feel his body heat. I've got to say, despite the nature of our business, I wanted to hold his hand and cuddle up a little closer. He looked through the slit and I looked over his head and watched several thugs run around from the corner and gather round by the giant's mouth in the wall. Yep, there he was, my special friend leading the pack with a machete in hand and a sack. So, he was going to cut my legs off and then bundle me inside the bag? Great plan, Hammerlock, great plan.

I felt his hair brush against my chest as he looked back at me and with a flutter of his eyes I knew I could have melted away right then. The irony was not lost on me, what with the cold on my back. Maybe it wasn't so much a flutter more of an assurance that everything was going to be alright. Those folks outside weren't going to find us here. He looked through the gap again and listened to the voices outside.

_She's gone?_

_No shit! Fall out and find her!_

The men scattered like rats leaving my friend alone by the blown-out wall. He was wrestling with the bag while studying the wall. He stepped inside and my Admirer stepped out. He turned back to me and gestured with his hand for me to stay put. I watched through the gap which I pushed open a little to get a better look. His trench coat brushed at the surface of the dirt and he stepped over the bricks and leapt inside. I heard struggles; a man's voice called out and cut back down halfway through a broken word. I Left the fridge and approached the wall. I leaned in and saw my Admirer pinning my special friend against the bathroom wall. He was bleeding from his head down to his chest. His hands were bloody with lacerations lining his arms.

"What did you do to him?"

My Admirer ignored my question and asked his own to the thug, "Tell me everything."

"I don't know shit."

I couldn't tell you what my Admirer replied with but the victim screamed in a hideous voice as his lacerated arms were bent and tugged with. I heard breaking bones, you never forget that sound. If you've heard it then you'll know and I don't mean the sounds you hear in Hyperion movies. I mean the real thing.

"I won't ask you again."

My god, how menacing. I had to second guess myself if I was attracted or not to this man. How could he turn so cold with a click of a finger or in this case, a break of an elbow?

"The Grinders, please…" Then he was gone. Wow, I almost felt sorry for him.

The fur coat walked away from his body and took my by the elbow (I'll be honest, I jumped a little at his touch) and spoke to me outside the broken wall.

"We need to go to the Grinders. That's where Max is."

"Hang on, you never asked that. You said, _tell me everything?_"

He looked over his shoulder and looked back at me as if the answer was written on the walls of the shops behind him, "There's more to me than you know. Firstly, you might want to know my name since we'll be spending a lot of time with each other if we're to stop," he formed a rainbow with his hands, "all of this."

"Well?" I asked

"My name is Jester."


	4. The God of the Dust

_**The God of the Dust**_

_**SAME DAY**_

Jester took me by the waist and wrapped his arms around me. I knew he was up to something, probably more of that off-world magic but I hugged him back all the same. I closed my eyes and I knew he did the same the second the ground beneath my feet gave way. I was passing through the air, a void where all things we don't understand drift aimlessly carrying their knowledge and wisdom. Or maybe that was the image in my head, my eyes were still closed but I imagined that's what I was drifting through. I found dirt underfoot and gravity came back in time for me to open my eyes. Jester had let me go but I was still glued to him. I remember when I was at Athenas and I was in agility training. I had to jump from clifftop to clifftop with a lashing sea lapping the spiked rocks as a safety net. I just closed my eyes and made my leap. One of the Brothers had to shake me for me to open my eyes. Jester didn't do that, I just heard, _Maya_.

"Maya, are you OK?"

I bit my lip and opened my eyes and saw Jester looking at me with his hands on my arms, "Yes, I'm OK."

He chuckled, "The first time is always the worst."

What did he say? "The first time?"

"Yeah, like I said. There's a lot you don't know about me. Like you, I have powers but I'm not a Siren. I'm a little too-"

"Badass?"

"Well, I was going to say too manly but that works just as well."

"We teleported, is that what that was?"

He gave me the thumbs up, "That's right and look where we are."

I looked around, yes, this was definitely the Grinders. Handsome Jack's girlfriend, the recently deceased Sheriff of Lynchwood used to mine the Eridium below the ground to ship over to him. Now that she was dead, the Grinders had pretty much become a boneyard. Tonnes of rusted machinery left to the barren wastes. It just so happens that Max was somewhere here.

I looked back at Jester who was now holding a pistol, "Where do you keep that?" Good god, I sounded like Moxxi. I wasn't supposed to say that with sexual innuendo even though it wasn't anything compared to what she would say. Jester smiled as though he had heard my thoughts or maybe my horrified face gave it all away.

"Moxxi, have you done something with your hair?"

Thank god he had a sense of humour, forgive my Brotherly tongue but, the Quiet Ones had chosen wisely. I coughed hoping my red face would return to its original shade and asked if he had a spare, "Do you have another? I depend too much on my powers."

He swiped a part of his trench coat away revealing a second holster strapped around his thigh and pulled out another pistol, "It's Tediore. Throw it when it's empty."

I held the weapon in my hands and looked at the engraved _Tediore_ signature on the base of the weapon. Wow, I'd never used a Tediore gun before but I had heard the advertisements on the radio, the awful one about the man without any thumbs.

_I have no thumbs so it is impossible for me to reload a weapon!_

Well, I had two thumbs and a gun that exploded like a grenade when thrown. It was safe to say I wanted to try her out as soon as I could. I let Jester lead the way and he seemed to know where he was going. We followed a scaffold that went up an incline where a shack suspended on stilts hanged over the dirt plains where the massive Grinder blades waited above the craters to tear open the earth. Jester crawled on his front and reached the edge of the rock and I did the same. I saw several people in the distance, was that a man hanging upside-down?

It was.

I took out my pistol but Jester said no, "Your friend, Max is there." He pointed in the distance and the man upside-down was Max. What were they going to do with him?

"How can you tell from here?"

He raised a finger at his eyes, "Another perk of an Admirer."

How many abilities did this man have? I made a pact with myself that once I got back to Liars Berg, I was going to quiz Jester as to who he really was. If he wasn't a Siren, what in the hell was he? If I didn't know better, he was the perfect man. He had a great character, lush eyes, handsome face, the less said about his body the better and he was minted with supernatural charms. Alright, Maya, back to the rescue mission.

Jester used his enhanced sight and picked out the targets, "I see Max. He's strung up on a beam hanging over a circular blade."

"What like one of those?" I pointed at the massive Grinder blades.

He nodded, "I see Deputy Winger as well."

"I thought Winger died with the Sheriff?"

"He survived."

Dammit, well, at least he wasn't like the Sheriff. She was one evil bitch, "Who is that with him?" There was one more person Jester hadn't mentioned.

"I don't know who that is."

"He looks dangerous."

"He looks like a mercenary; no doubt he works for money."

Well yeah, what else would he work for? If it was Moxxi, anybody would work just to get their slice of her world famous _pizza_ but this wasn't Moxxi. He was a merc and I'll bet a contract killer as well.

Jester surveyed the area one more time and told me to the plan. He was going to send me behind Max while he was going to approach from behind Winger and his friend. We were going to cover both flanks. He winked at me and I tried to do the same. Sadly, winking wasn't one of my strong points. Eyelids were designed to blink together.

"You ready?"

"As ready as I'll be."

Whoa! There it was again, I was floating with the clocks and the strange icons I couldn't read. This time I didn't close my eyes. It couldn't describe what I was seeing enough for you to understand but man, it felt like somewhere that wasn't here. Perhaps the division line between existence and non-existence or life and death. I found the ground beneath my feet and stumbled near the edge of the cliff. Careful, Maya. I knelt down behind a rock and saw Jester standing near the pair of thugs where he said he would be. So far so good. I could see Max now, god, he was tied up well. He couldn't move his limbs even if he wanted to. His ribcage was constricted and there was no escape without help. I waited behind the rock with my pistol. Was it worth emptying the clip just so I could lob it at Winger and watch him explode? A smile stretched out, eurgh, I'm a bad person.

_Maya?_

What? That can't have been right.

_Maya?_

The voice whispered again in my ear. What the hell was up with that? I whispered back, _Jester?_ There was no answer. I asked again and when the voice came through, it wasn't Jester at all. It was Winger, I think. I turned around and saw somebody knelt beside me but it wasn't Winger. He wore a hood with a gas mask beneath it. Half of his mask was burnt with blackened patches leaving little to see through. I tried to call for Jester but my voice was gone. The image of my attacker fading away just as the sun began to set.


	5. Fallen

_**Fallen**_

_**SAME DAY**_

By the time I had opened my eyes, the assassin and Deputy Winger were gone. There was nothing but the whisper of the wind blowing dirt in my face. The wound on my leg left a patch of blood on the sand and it would probably get infected. I didn't know how long I was out but it was long enough. I rolled over on my front and propped myself up to my feet. I was hopping on one foot, damn, that wound had really killed my leg. I could see Jester by the Grinder where Max was tied up but this time Max wasn't there. I limped over to him and said his name. He turned around and ran over to me and to my surprise he threw his arms around my neck.

"I thought you were dead."

"No," I assured him, "I'm still here."

He let me go and looked me in the eyes, "When Winger got away with his assassin I thought the worst."

I looked over his shoulder and noticed the beam where Max was strung up. Where had Max gone? "Did they take him?"

I didn't want to believe that Jester's silence meant death but the tell-tale signs were there, Max was gone, "How?"

Jester waved an arm at the Grinder pit, "Winger dropped him."

I bowed my head. Not only was he the Quiet Ones informant dead but it was just another reminder that we were losing this fight. The Quiet Ones may have bitten off more than they could chew. The Impending Storm was down to its last numbers but their spirit and their power was still there. Having their backs against the wall gave them something to fight for, now that they were planning on flourishing the Bloom, only time would tell if they were as powerful as they appeared to be or if we weren't as powerful as _we_ thought we could be.

Jester held my shoulder and smiled. "In my haste I managed to follow where he was going in my mind," I didn't say it but he knew what I was going to ask, "Yes, another perk."

"OK, where did he go?"

"His trail ends at a large quarry near past Death Row Refinery. The Brother's scent is strong there."

"You can _smell_ them?"

"Maya, believe me. There's a lot to me I didn't ask for," he wiped his nose with the back of his hand and gestured at my leg, "You need a hand with that?"

"Yeah, it's pretty rank."

Jester smiled at me and knelt down and touched my leg. I don't know what he did exactly but my leg felt a lot better. The open wound was closed and sewn back into place but anybody that could see the wound would know that I was hurt. It wasn't pretty but it would do.

"OK, Jester," I said, "you need to fill in the blanks for me when we get back from here."

He laughed, "Happy to."

He held my waist again and we fell through timeless space and found gravity beneath our feet outside a large sliding metal door that led into the Old Mine.

_**SAME DAY**_

_**Old Mine**_

_**Lynchwood**_

Jester walked to the door and punched a switch to raise the door. It must have been left closed for a while because it sounded so old and mechanical. Then again, maybe it always sounded like that. Doors like these attract attention when opened. These mines had been left to die a long time ago, possibly even before the Sheriff died. This mine wasn't used for extracting Eridium, the Grinders did that. The door finally opened all the way up and Jester brushed off the fresh dust from his coat and head. He waved me towards him and we both jumped down into the mine.

"Ouch!" Damn, the wound might have closed but it still hurt like a bitch. Jester struck me an eye and I blinked back. The silent communication really was quite something.

Inside it looked like Moxxi's Underdome. It was a massive circular subterranean stadium with multiple tunnels leading towards the riches of the world and where ancient mining stories were kept hidden inside the rock. If there was any place the Monk would hide, this would be it. It seemed too quiet. Yet quiet enough. In fact, this place reminded me of the Abbey. I hated the Abbey. Despite this, I felt comfortable about it. The Monk would be here, I was sure of it. It was hidden from the outside world, plenty of space to hide and above all else, it was quiet. Jester was walking ahead of me; I suspected he was following the trail he had lost before. He waved me over to him and we stepped into a tunnel. Jester told me this was the way forward. Yes, the Monk was here alright.

The journey ahead was long and void of any surprises. Abandoned mine carts littered the sides of the mine track and rotting bodies were hanging from nooses over crevasses and ECHOs were lying on shelves and on the bodies of the dead. I imagine the wealth of the earth was mostly extracted from these depths but the wealth of the dead was a gold mine. Already, I had found this mine shaft alone more fascinating than the libraries back in the Impending Storm's school. These would have been real stories about real people, maybe people who didn't like what they were doing but they had to make a living one way or another. Well, it wasn't them who were kicking me in the ass when I wasn't looking. It was my former school that was making problems. Then again, I was already on the frontlines against them.

Jester stopped me with his hand on my shoulder and crouched by the rock wall. I did the same and watched him evaluate the area. He pressed his finger against his lips and I stayed quiet. He moved forward and reached the end of the wall where another cave was dug in beside it. He leaned in and then leaned out to speak to me.

"He's in there."

Excitement rose in my chest, "The Monk?"

He nodded, "There's a shrine and I hear a voice."

"Then what are we waiting for? Let's kill him."

Jester shook his head, "We should question him. Like this mine, he'll have information about things. He'll know names, places and dates," Jester rolled through the list of items and I had to admit, he was right, "We don't kill him until he's told us everything."

I nodded my head. Jester went back to look at the shrine but I wasn't going to wait around. Just like how I had been at school, I stepped first and did what I wanted to do. You know what, I think even Jester was impressed as to how quickly I could trap the Monk with my powers. There he was hanging timeless in the air with me at the helm. Jester walked around the shrine and I followed with my eyes tracking the suspended Monk in my grasp. God, I love my powers.

The Monk was Brother White. He was a high rank in the Abbey. Deeply religious and deeply old-fashioned. In my experience, the stricter the victim, the harder they are to break. White proved me right.

Jester showed the rock with the mark of Faith carved in it at White and spoke to him, "You see this? This is what you're after? Tell me where the last Brothers are."

I held up my suspension long enough so White could reply, "Never."

Jester continued as I strengthened the bubble and charged it with an electric current every time he failed to answer him, "Do you think that you'll be doing this planet and everybody in it a favour if you carry on with this plan? Do you really believe in all this crap?"

I loosened the bond again, "It's what we've been waiting for."

"It's what you've been waiting for?" Jester began his roll, "No, this is what I think. Now that the Impending Storm is whittled down to its faithful members, you guys are attempting a suicide-mission to reclaim the power you wished you had from the beginning. Ever since Maya killed Sophis and left Athenas, your cult has lost sight and then they began to leave. Now that you're one of the last ones left, you're going to try and capture the powers of the six Sirens and take the world. Am I right?"

White broke free from his constriction long enough to yell a reply, "Don't fucking judge us!" He was back in hold with electricity cracking at his bones.

"I am right," Jester placed the rock back in his coat pocket and flicked through the pages on the shrine, "I'll bet you've got all the details Maya and I could want right here."

My eyes were flicking back and forth from White to the shrine. There were all sorts of purples and blues colouring it and the mirror reminded White of his evil every time he looked at his reflection. I felt pleased with this, I never liked White.

Jester spoke again with a sheet of paper in his hands, "This is music, isn't it?" Through the shades of my suspension I could see White's eyes filled with fear, Jester carried on with his verbal torture, "Secret music?"

I let the hold down a little and let White talk, "Leave that alone."

"Nah, I like music. I hear music from the Abbey is quite something, how about you Maya?"

He turned to me and I smiled back, "It's OK I guess."

He looked back at White waving the music in his hand, "I know this music doesn't exist anymore. Or, does it? I know that the records of the Abbey were burnt down in a fire from terrified Monks who knew that the Impending Storm was done with. They tried to hide their evil and everything they ever worked on before they moved on. However, you didn't do that, did you?" White was really scared now, I loved it, "No, you took the last pages of the music," he flicked through them in his hands, "four pages of music were stolen from a ten page piece. What would they think of you or what would they do to you if they were to find out you carried a piece of their evil? I'll wager they'll do more to you than we could."

It was at this time when I realised that Jester was a master class at this. He knew just where to poke a sharp stick and keep poking. It was incredible to watch.

"Tell me, Brother. What are you more afraid of? Them or us?"

White gulped and asked with a pained voice, "What do you want to know?"

"Who are the Brothers looking for? Which Sirens are in trouble?"

"There are two left," Oh no, my stomach jolted, I had a horrible feeling I knew which names would come next, "Maya and Lilith."


End file.
